Honolulu

Aloha Ohana :) 


I have got to say, time goes sooo fast, but this week has been so long haha! Not in a bad way at all but I never realized how changing seriously everything up could be such an adjustment! 

It is similar in the idea of missionary work haha but pretty much way different!! We cover a lot of military housing and on base, so we cannot tract. But even the "small" amounts of local area that we can tract is bigger than my whole hauula area hahah. It's good :) I love having the opportunity to talk to nonmembers alllll over and also to experience such a different culture. I have got to say the military group of people is almost opposite of the hawaiian culture haha. I get a nervous not knowing the culture (ex: to make people love you you eat tooons of food, but here I don't necessarily think that's true haha they probably will think I'm rude if I eat a ton!) 

But I really love my companion! Sister Makihele.

So in the car on the way to the apartment when we first got put together, we were just talking and I made a comment how it was funny because my twin sister drove on the wrong side of the road during her driving test and still passed (lol jamie). And she freaked out about me having a twin (which is normal) but then she said "I have a twin too! ...and she also drove on the wrong side of the road her first time driving" haha I died. So funny. We are both twins in a 9 person family. cool beans. We also meet so many twins. It's so fun. We actually have so much in common in our twinship. I'm her second companion, but she's been out for about 4-5 months! We are doing good together and I am grateful to have such an easy going comp. She's tongan but from alaska and fits in a lot with the military culture, but i really like it! 

The investigators in the area all sort of dropped so we have been trying to find new investigators! It's pretty amazing how we get placed in the right places to meet these people. Like I said, it's a pretty different culture working with military people, also with the Caucasians. It really is quite different. But good experience nonetheless :)

I do miss seeing the temple every day and wearing muumuus haha. It is sooo different not having a million sisters around and not doing vc/online. But crazy thing. I sent a referral from the online system to this area.... and now I am the one contacting her!! how cool :) haha. Seriously, online referrals are so exciting for us when we get them!! :)

Oh for thanksgiving we got lots of food. I've never been more tired after eating turkey haha but the people are so generous. We ate at all american houses/parties, so definitely a traditional meal :) Lots of mashed potatoes :):):) 

Many of the people we invited to come to church actually came! But they didn't stay, one even left half way through the meeting.... so we will have to see how we can help there. 

But yeah. I'm soooo excited. We have a lot of potentials and some people that are beginning to investigate. It's so great to be able to help others. 

I hope you also have the chance to look at the mormon.org video and 25 service days!!! Really take the challenge. We are also trying to look for more service because we know that is what Jesus would do! :) 

Hiking

Its windy today!

I love you all so much! Fun that I get to skype you in less than a month!!! yay!! 

Reach out this Christmas season :) There's all kinds of excuses to serve and share the gospel :)

Love Sister Nielsen

Transfer to Honolulu!!!

Aloha!!! 

The Smiths

well guess what!!! I am getting transferred out of here for a few transfers (most likely) to... Honolulu West (which i don't really know where that is hahah but sounds like it is city and part of my area is a military base, so all kinds of people from all over!! One of the VC sisters served in the same area, so i've been getting all kinds of tips. I guess there is a Target over there (which to most people is big news haha i don't know how much it'll change things for me) but my companion will be Sister Makihele. Her name sounds Poly, but I heard she's from Alaska! We will see how it goes! I really hope to love it! It'll be lots of holidays while I'm gone, which is a little sad because the VC is beautiful with trees and festivities, but I think being away also might make it fun for me. 

The only thing I'm sad about is I'll be gone for the last little bit of the Smiths, Sister Weygandt, Lee and Miao. Oh well. Everyone goes to BYU or BYUI it seems like hahha. I'll see everyone again I think :) 

This week went fast )only a few days since last email haha) So i'm not really sure what to share! I am excited to change, but this last week has been fun. We bought a large print BOM for an investigtor Sister -which she almost rejected hahaha We practically begged her to take it, so she did. I hope she will read it! Also Sister Pluim is also leaving Hauula, but they are putting Sister Obrien back in there, so hopefully that's enough common faces to keep the trust we have built!! Makes me nervous to have so often of changes there, because people stop working with us. 

But We did get to go to the temple. I love seeing that everyday! So special. 

Well I hope you have a great Thanksgiving! I don't know what mine will be like. It sounds like I will be eating a lot. :) 

This week we had great opportunities to meet many people we didn't know, as we put ourselves out there, even to try to visit others, God will lead us to people that will listen and talk and hopefully plant a seed in their hearts each time :) I love those moments! But Something in Sacrament meeting really stood out to me, if the best spiritual experiences in your life are just from your mission or long ago, then change! Because you can have those as often as you are willing :) Ask God to make you an instrument and do all you can to live worthy of the Spirit so that it can lead you to those that need it :)

Love you all!! 

Love Sister Nielsen

Baked potatoes for the girls from Idaho

Aloha!!!!

Aloha!!!!!                               

Time is so fast! I mean so much happens but then it just feels like I wrote! But next week is transfer week, so our schedule is messed up, so my pday will be Monday!! So don't forget ;D Plus it'll be the week before Thanksgiving!!!! 

Things have been going good. I of course love the people and my area and sister Pluim is great. She says "awesome" a lot, but probably because there are many awesome things going on haha.  But I can't believe how fast time goes. 

We had another fun guest here at the VC, Sister Sheri Dew! I love her, she is a very likable lady. She has her trials, but I love how she uses them to help others and also how she allows others to help lighten her burden. Our baptism covenant is to help lighten each others' burdens, and it order to do that, we have to be willing to let others know what our trials may be. But also something that stuck out to me was being willing to have that spiritual wrestle with God (like Enos or other people in the BOM) which I think I needed to hear. 

Things are going in Hau'ula, still just one investigator and she "isn't going to change" but sadly for her, she just lost her best friend of MANY years, and so she was willing to let us really teach her the plan of salvation, where we came from, why we are here, and what happens to us after we die. I really am grateful to know that there is a bigger picture that just the right here and now. Our choices really matter, and God will help us to return to him! It's really a hopeful message! Always share that with others :)

I am starting to love calling people about their requests for the Bible, people are so interesting! And i love that each person has such uniqueness you really never know what to expect. It's like working at the call center but i can say whatever i want and i get to have a three way call and have a companion haha. It's pretty great! yesterday we got to talk to a guy on the phone that was deaf! honestly i had no idea. that translator was so good!!!! But also, it's so fun to get to call and follow up with them and hear how excited some of them are to keep leraning from the missionaries!!! I hope the Lord keeps sharing the gospel. I don't regularlly have baptisms from online, but it's so amazing that as a visitors' center, we get to spend so much time in our meeting talking and sharing the stories of many baptisms each week from people that either came VC or online (usually online). It's so amazing!!! 

I hope you have a great week!

Love you

Love Sister Nielsen

ALO (to share) HA (the breathe of life) ;)

Aloha family. how are you???                                Sounds like all is well over there haha. But it's going by quick over here. I feel like I just emailed last week. This transfer has been a little strange, even though it's the same area, all the people I spent time working with and serving in the past have all been busy or out of town, so it's been really difficult to find new people to teach or to try to help reactivate. It is so sad to see how many less actives there are. Moroni 6:4 explains how we are supposed to basically keep strengthening each other after baptism, and it's really sad to see many fall off the path and end up unhappy or feeling lost. I really hope everyone can do better to reach out to those brothers and sisters that even already made the promises to God and help them to come back. Because that is our responsibility :)

But i love the people here. They sure are great. We had the chance to meet this family that is usually just turning away missionaries but we prayed with them and the spirit touched the mom's heart that she invited us in to eat, so of course we went in and were able to really get to know them and talk to them. It was a little miracle, but so grateful because now they've told us we can come any time and even if they aren't home, we know where the food is haha. But also, I know that the gospel can help them to overcome their addictions and to find more peace and happiness in their family. 

In the visitors' center we met this sweet lady, who we felt inspired to talk about family with her (not just generally about the temple and what we do there). It was really neat to see how that was exactly what she was going through-loss of mom and sister recently and the idea that families can be together again reallllly interested her and knowing how the gospel can bless her family even now also. I am grateful that we have the short tram tours where even in that short amount of time, we are able to help serve people so that God can have an opportunity to help others to be happy and come closer to him. Even if it's 15-20 minutes of their Hawaii vacation :)

Also online Sister Pluim and I hadn't been very successful, but we really set our minds to it, and I feel like there have been many neat experiences and opportunities to help others learn more about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. Some of the people we talk to remind me of friends from back home, and I hope that they will someday check out mormon.org chat, because it's great! haha :) 

And teaching together over the phone is really fun. We have no idea what the people look like or their circumstances, but all we know is their concern and can do our best to allow the spirit to touch their hearts. It's amazing and quite a unique setting :) 

The  only thing I could wish for my mission is to speak more than just English (which i am trying haha) but there are so many people that I just have to point and smile and hope they get a general idea haha. The language of the spirit is universal at least :) 

ALSO I AM SO EXCITED BECAUSE WE ARE GETTING TRAINED FOR THE NEW CHRISTMAS VIDEO FOR THIS YEAR> let me tell you, it is so good. :D I will go where ever i am sent of course, but i have a little fear to go "full pros" during christmas time-which has got to be amazing at the visitors' center. haha I shouldn't even think about that yet. But If you want to send me Christmas hymns/music that would be really fun. If not, i'll mooch off the other sisters... 

Love you Love Sister Nielsen

ps i have never been fed so many potatoes in my whole mission until this transfer hahaha people love that we are both from idaho.... oh these Hawaiians.... :D

Visitors

Byrams and Sims

  

It was so fun to see the Sims and Byrams yesterday. Haha I completely forgot and then just was so smilie and glad they stopped by. Haha and the packages cracked me up. Thanks sooooo much!!!!!

goodies

Aloha OHanaaaaa

It's been a good week :) We have put a big emphasis on working with members. It goes slower, but definitely more effective :) I love seeing members happiness when they share the gospel/reach out in friendship to their neighbors.

Oh so cool, we are going to be able to teach this really strong Catholic lady (not really strong in the religion just that she is a catholic) but she is interested to know what her son (who is a member) and us believe. She loves to have us over and it really means a lot to hear her and her husband say how welcome we are anytime, but especially to hear them say they are willing to have us teach them the lessons, even though right now, "she doesn't want to change" :) Yay for miracles!

Also had exchanges and I got to go with the lovely Sister Wu. She was so kind and loving and I learned so much for her. I really look up to my sister training leaders (we have 4 of them haha) and they are all so Christlike and happy and have such a light in their eyes. I want to be more like that myself. Grateful for them :)

Oh we had a surprise visit on Sunday by........ Elder Neil L Andersen! haha perks of having the Swintons. It was really nice. I loved to hear from him and Elder Clark-former byui president. 

Elder Andersen and Elder Clark

We also have several potential investigators that I really think might go somewhere! That's not so common so we are excited :) 

VC has been slow, but I am glad we have the PCC tram tours or it would be sooo much slower. I love meetin great people that I know feel the spirit at the temple grounds :). And how interested people are in reading the Book of Mormon. They will love it :)

Halloween here is pretty big. Especially because Laie is sooo safe so everyone brings their kids here. People go all out. I wish I would've taken pictures. Its like tents outside and food and candy and music and cool lights and stuff. And no winter coats ;) We all hung out in the VC and watched some pioneer videos and Elder Swinton gave us some testimony and insights. It was interesting Halloween but a good one :).

I am happy and healthy and excited to take a little nap :) haha.

Love you all!!! I know that God will answer your prayers, so don't forget to pray :)

Love, Sister Nielsen. LOVE YOUUUU